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EAST LYME BOARD OF FINANCE
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EAST LYME BOARD OF FINANCE REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, OCTOBER 8th, 2008
Members In Attendance: Steve Larcen, Chairman Jeff Langan, Secretary John Birmingham Jill Carini Bob Jones Allan Taylor
Also In Attendance: Paul Formica, First Selectman Anna Johnson, Finance Director
Absent: No One
A. Call Meeting to OrderChairman Larcen called this Regular Meeting of the East Lyme Board of Finance to order at 7:00 PM.
B. Pledge of AllegianceThe Pledge was observed.
C. Delegations Mr. Larcen called for delegations.
Bob Gadbois, 358 Boston Post Road said that he had suggested once before to them that they should go to the Board of Ed meetings to hear things that they will never see in print. He went to a Board of Education meeting that was held prior to the regular meeting recently and they were talking about some computer piece that is supposed to last four (4) years and was now ten (10) years old and how it costs $75,000 and they do not have the money for it nor have they put away money for it. When they went into the Regular Board of Ed meeting held after that, it was not even presented there so no one was told about it. Also, this past Monday night, the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent got their raises. He said that he heard on Channel 3 that the Superintendent of Schools in Trumbull refused his raise and said that it should be put towards a scholarship. You certainly don’t hear about that type of thing happening here in East Lyme now – do you?
D. Approval of Minutes ¨ Wednesday, August 13, 2008 – Regular Meeting Mr. Larcen called for a motion for approval or any changes to the Board of Finance August 13, 2008 Regular Meeting Minutes.
**MOTION (1) Mr. Langan moved that the Board of Finance Regular Meeting Minutes of August 13, 2008 be accepted as presented. Mr. Birmingham seconded the motion. Vote: 6 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
E. Reports a. First Selectman Mr. Formica reported on the following items: ¨ The groundbreaking for the Readiness Center at Camp Rell – what at one time would have housed the Police Department – will be held at 1 PM on Friday October 17, 2008 – all are invited to attend. There will be a significant investment in this project and they seem to be a ready and willing partner with the Town. He asked that all who could attend to please come. ¨ The Steering Committee of the POCD is underway with their meetings; they have eight (8) people and are inviting outside people in to expand the count to 12 people. ¨ They have reached an agreement with the new Planner and he will start on October 27, 2008. This is a .8 position and this person has strength in writing skills and will help with the POCD update. He apologized that the information on the new planner hit the paper before a notice could be sent to everyone. ¨ They have been awarded a $50,000 grant to use to study Affordable Housing/workforce housing incentive zones within the Town. This information could be used as a future guide on this and also as a part of the POCD update. The money would be spent as follows: $18,000 for a consultant; $12,000 for legal work and $20,000 to the department for potential implementation. ¨ They will be holding a Capital Improvement Plan meeting on October 27, 2008 and he has asked the departments to put forth their capital needs and once they have the list, they will evaluate them and go from there. ¨ They had a presentation from the new insurance company on reporting claims and other procedures. ¨ He has requested that all department heads hold back on spending 1.5% of their requested budget for this year to be able to mitigate increases with fuel and other issues that arise in the spring when they are trying to tie up and balance the budgets. He said that he is also looking for a zero increase in taxes for the upcoming year. They are holding on oil as it is expected to drop to $85/gallon. ¨ He said that he did attend some Board of Ed meetings with Mr. Gadbois and that they did discuss the maintenance manager concept and they have approved a study committee to see if it would be worth proceeding with this. They expect to meet in the next few weeks. ¨ They will be experimenting with the single stream trash pilot program and see how it goes. All trash would be placed in one container and the sorting would be done at the facility. The containers would have to be paid for and he will check with Mr. Giannattasio on the exact cost of these containers.
Mr. Taylor said that they would not get paid as much for the recyclables with this system. Mr. Formica said that from what was said that they would.
Mr. Taylor asked if that would be a temporary situation just to get people involved in the program. Mr. Formica said that he would get more information on this as it has been mentioned as a ‘win-win’ situation for the Towns and the facility.
¨ He noted that the AFSCME vote on the contract was scheduled to take place later this month; and they have started contract talks with Dispatch. ¨ They are looking into a water meter replacement program as they feel that they are losing revenues with meters that have ‘slowed down’ over time. The cost to replace the meters would pay for themselves with the additional revenues from accurate usage readings and billing. ¨ The Fuel & Energy Task Force has been meeting and they are concentrating on wind and solar alternatives. ¨ He noted that he authorized more labor resources to be thrown at the check reconciliation project to move it along faster and that he has spoken with Scott Bassett from the auditing firm who has reviewed this and expects to update them in November. ¨ He lastly suggested that they could hold an Executive Session after their November or December meeting where he would update them on the pending litigation solutions and contracts.
b. Finance Director ¨ Update on Audit and Account Reconciliations Ms. Johnson reported that she has included an update on the reconciliations and noted that they have not moved as quickly as she anticipated as there is a lot of background work that had to be done. She said that is pretty much caught up now and that she expects this to move faster.
Mr. Taylor asked about the cash receipts and the research differences. Ms. Johnson said that they are looking at all the activity on a month to month basis. Mr. Taylor asked if they have used people other than from the finance department to do this work. Ms. Johnson said that she used her staff and two (2) outside people and that her people only did pieces of the reconciliations. Mr. Taylor asked if the outside people are still working for us. Ms. Johnson said yes – one on a temporary basis and one who comes in once a week. She said that she reached out to her contacts to get this up to date so that once it is caught up they could get a more permanent person in to keep it up to date. Mr. Taylor asked who did the reconciliations before this. Ms. Johnson said that they had someone who left in the end of 2007 and then they got someone else that did not work out and they left in March or April. They got the person who is helping them out now in July of this year. Mr. Taylor asked Ms. Johnson if she was present when the last person was hired. Ms. Johnson said yes.
Ms. Carini asked Ms. Johnson how far behind they were when she came on board. Ms. Johnson said that the changes to other banks was what started the problem and that while there are no dual accounts there may be more than they actually need and that can be determined once they get caught up.
Mr. Jones asked Ms. Johnson how many hours her staff is spending on this. Ms. Johnson said that the bank statement took an hour of time and that entering it into the computer takes less than an hour. Mr. Jones asked if they would be using them in the future. Ms. Johnson said probably not. Mr. Jones said that he is sorry to hear about this situation and that his personal feeling is that it is their job as the Finance Board to bring this up and that they have been bringing it up month after month and it is still behind.
Mr. Formica said that they have put together a comprehensive plan to get it done. Mr. Jones said that he is appreciative of what is being done now but feels that it should have been done a long time ago.
Mr. Larcen thanked Ms. Johnson for all of her efforts on this.
¨ Review of June 30, 2008 Statements Ms. Johnson reviewed the June 30, 2008 draft statements and said that the auditors would be updating them on the audit in the near future.
Mr. Langan and Ms. Carini asked what the fund balance figure was now. Ms. Johnson said that it was approximately $4.4M.
¨ Encumbrance Report Ms. Johnson said that they had received this report in their packets and went over it, explaining where they stand.
Mr. Larcen noted that the Board of Ed had thought that they would have unexpended funds of around $550,000 and that the end of year report shows $100,000 which is a big shift that took place in the last weeks of the year as it is $450,000 less that they are talking about.
Mr. Taylor asked that they set up a procedure by way of information that the Board of Ed provides them which shows this information so that it can be tracked.
Mr. Formica noted that Mr. Seery attended the Board of Selectmen meeting to provide them with a series of updates and that he could ask that he come before them every other month to provide an update.
Mr. Taylor noted that the Town should be aware of the Board of Ed capital assets that are going through the budget as there needs to be accountability.
Mr. Larcen suggested that increased communication would be beneficial.
Ms. Carini asked Ms. Johnson if she receives a monthly Board of Ed budget update. Ms. Johnson said that she does receive reconciliations but not the budget update.
Mr. Taylor said that at one time it was procedure that they had a monthly Board of Ed report and that they could do it again.
Mr. Larcen suggested that they invite Mr. Seery to their next meeting and let him know what information they are seeking.
Mr. Taylor asked Ms. Johnson what falls under the Finance Department revenue. Ms. Johnson said that it was the tower rental.
Mr. Larcen asked Mr. Formica if all of the staffing level changes were made. Mr. Formica said that once the contract is signed and done with that they will see how this falls out. He noted that the Planner was hired at .8.
Mr. Taylor asked about protection on the STIF fund. Ms. Johnson said that it is a pooled fund and she does not believe that there is any insurance on them. Mr. Taylor asked how much they have in STIF and if they could be informed of this each month. Mr. Johnson said that she would provide them with that information.
F. New Businessa. Discussion and possible action to appropriate grant(s) in the amount of $2,000 and $3,450 from the State Department of Social Services. Mr. Larcen called for a motion.
**MOTION (2) Mr. Jones moved to appropriate the $1,700 to an account titled “State Grants Payroll” and $3,750 to an account to be established titled “State Grants Materials”. Mr. Langan seconded the motion.
Mr. Larcen called for a vote on the motion. Vote: 6 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
b. Discussion and possible action to appropriate $50,000 State of Connecticut Affordable Housing Grant. Mr. Larcen called for a motion.
**MOTION (3) Mr. Jones moved to approve the appropriation of the $50,000 Housing for Economic Growth – Technical Assistance Grant. Ms. Carini seconded the motion.
Mr. Larcen asked what they would be doing with this grant. Mr. Formica explained that they would hire a COG Affordable Housing consultant at $18,000 to do a study on where the best locations would be for the Affordable Housing/workforce housing within the Town and $12,000 for the legal writing of the ordinances and $20,000 for the POCD update implementation as it would be a part of that update.
Ms. Carini asked if they have signed a contract with the consultant to do the study. Mr. Formica said not yet as they are getting a written contract for review prior to any signing. Also, action here is needed to trigger action at Town Meeting and then on the contract.
Mr. Larcen called for a vote on the motion. Vote: 6 – 0 – 0. Motion passed. c. Discussion and possible action - Town of East Lyme Fund Balance Policy **MOTION (4) Mr. Langan moved that the Town of East Lyme Fund Balance Policy dated 9/4/2008 be adopted. Ms. Carini seconded the motion.
Mr. Taylor noted that he had changes that he wanted to make to the draft.
Mr. Larcen noted that he had an issue with the exceptions section and urged that they table this until the next meeting so that they could take the time to review it more carefully.
Mr. Langan rescinded his MOTION (4) and Ms. Carini rescinded her second of that motion. This item was tabled for further discussion at the next meeting.
Mr. Larcen noted that Mr. Birmingham had forwarded to him a request from Art Carlson that he be scheduled to do an open space presentation to the Board.
Mr. Formica noted that they split this group into open space and conservation and that Mr. Carlson has shared this presentation on open space with the other groups.
Mr. Taylor said that he has found over time that people making such presentations, look for money. Mr. Formica said that they would only have a presentation on this.
G. Old Business ¨ Financial Policies – Sub Committee There was no discussion.
H. Public Discussion Mr. Larcen called for Public Discussion. There was none.
I. Board Comments Mr. Larcen asked if the Board had any comments.
Mr. Taylor asked why, when the year is over they make transfers to budgets that are over to make them look like they budgeted properly. In doing this, he said that they lose track of how the department was managed and he does not think that they should be white-washing them. The transfers will be lost once the year is done and over and it is a lot of work with the forms that have to be filled out and signed by multiple people (to do the transfers). He thinks that they should come and ask for an additional appropriation.
Mr. Larcen said that he disagreed with that and feels that they worked hard to try to work within the aggregate resources rather than to come in for an appropriation.
Mr. Jones asked that someone fill in for him for the Capital Improvements Committee meeting on October 27, 2008 as he would not be able to attend it.
J. Adjournment **MOTION (5) Mr. Taylor moved to adjourn this Regular Meeting of the East Lyme Board of Finance at 9:15 PM. Mr. Langan seconded the motion. Vote: 6 – 0 – 0. Motion passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Zmitruk, Recording Secretary
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